Bill Kristol: Mitt Romney's Low Tax Rate Is 'Kinda Weird'

Source: Huffington Post

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said Monday that he thinks Mitt Romney should pay a higher tax rate, calling the rate he pays on his investments "weird."

"I personally -- if I were designing the tax code -- would have a tax code in which Mitt Romney paid more than 13 percent, given what I know about the kind of investments he made money from," Kristol said Monday on C-Span.

The prominent conservative commentator added that he thought there would be no "economic detriment" to Romney if he paid more.

"I think it just seems kinda weird that he pays a lower rate than an awful lot of middle-class people," Kristol said.

1. Kristol going so off-message is also weird

Wonder what he's up to. I guess one needs to be well-versed in GOP Kremlinology to figure it out. I sincerely doubt that Kristol has suddenly decided that tax avoidance is an affront to his deeply-held moral principles.

None of them is really satisfactory, because none of them posits Romney concealing any facts more harmful than the blowback he is getting for not producing more returns. The problem may be that all of the prominent theories (with a couple of under-noticed exceptions) assume Romney is trying to conceal facts about his finances. Like the purloined letter pinned prominently in plain sight, what Romney's really hiding might be something more mundane: the home address written on the top of the tax form. That address that might reveal a connection between the "tax returns" brouhaha and the "voter fraud" fizzle – which may be the strongest explanation of all. Here's why.

4. I think an effective ad

irrespective of the tax rate etc would be one in which conservatives are asking teachers etc to sacrifice for the greater good (teachers buying supplies, taking on extra duties, being super teachers dedicating 60+ hours a week) while Romney can't even take the hit of a somewhat lower return on invesment by having his money invested in the U.S. I might get my daughter to do one like that for Youtube.

13. Exactly so

Well said. Kristol's musing is disingenuous - as if the R policy and platform have not promoted same for my entire lifetime - in fact, they want NO OBLIGATION AT ALL FOR THE UPPER 1% TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE!

15. He talks like a third grader.

I wish I could make his salary for talking like a third grader. "Kinda weird", but in the real world adults are expected to be able to speak like adults or they can't get any kind of job, let alone one in "communications."